Hujambo, Team Tumaini!
It hardly seems possible that we are already preparing for our sixth annual Board trip to Sakila. I am happy to share a few of the highlights I anticipate for our visit next week:
1. Student Leaders
We will meet with our oldest students--Barakaeli, Frank, Godlisten, Livingstone, and Martin--who just sat for the national exams to complete their secondary school studies (finishing Form Six)! I am so proud of these students: they were brilliant fourteen-year-old kids when I first met them, close to seven years ago, eager for an opportunity to attend school; now they are twenty-one-year-old leaders in their community. We are coordinating with our local partners to try to provide opportunities for some of these students to meet their goal of working as teachers in Sakila so that they can continue to support future generations of Tumaini scholars.
2. New Students
We will add a new class of Form One students to our partnership this year. One of my favorite parts of each trip is visiting the homes of these new students, often walking one or two hours to reach each home (the distance many of these students walk to reach school each day). A committee of teachers and administrators from the primary and secondary schools has selected these students based on academic merit and financial need. We will also meet with the families of the students we are currently supporting to review the students' academic progress, encourage the student-mentor program, and reevaluate our mutual financial commitments. Each family makes a contribution to its student's education, and every scholarship is individually tailored to meet each family's need.
3. Local Partnerships
We are excited to keep building our local partnerships in East Africa with caring and committed individuals and like-minded organizations. As Tumaini Tanzania expands and we look forward to a more locally run operation, these relationships become increasingly important. Many of these partners will help us host a daylong workshop with the students. We will provide a large meal for every student, play fun games, discuss the status of the scholarship program, and continue to explore ways for the students to serve their community. This year, we are very excited to be joined by two young, caring East African couples: a Tanzanian husband-wife couple who are both doctors at a prestigious hospital in a nearby town, and a Kenyan husband-wife couple who are engaged in various for-profit and non-profit endeavor around the region.
4. Board Members
I continue to be very grateful for the dedication and generosity ofTumaini Tanzania’s Board of Directors here in the United States. These Directors recently met for a weekend retreat to outline the future of the organization, and two members, Duncan and Prentice, will join me on this year’s trip to Sakila. The Board is discussing ways to make sure Tumaini Tanzania remains an effective organization that you can trust, from re-thinking how we communicate with donors to exploring low-cost fundraising options, and will continue these discussions with our local partners.
As always, the individual Board members who are going on this visit (Duncan, Prentice, and I) are personally funding the costs of this trip -- you can be sure that 100% of your donations are always applied directly to the community in Sakila.
We plan on gathering lots of photos, videos, and stories during our time in Sakila to provide a glimpse of the lives you are touching. We look forward to sharing these on our website (www.tumainitanzania.org) when we return. Thank you for keeping us and the Tumaini community in your thoughts and prayers over the next two weeks.
Mungu akubariki (God bless),